TRACK AND FIELD ROUNDUP

updated 9:58 p.m. ET Aug. 20, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - The United States track and field squad’s most storied Olympian — 37-year-old Gail Devers — barely survived the second round in the women’s 100. She captured the 16th and final spot in Saturday’s semifinals, avoiding elimination by .01 seconds.

Devers, who won gold in the 100 in 1992 and 1996, was fourth in her heat — the top three automatically qualify — but was one of four runners to qualify on time, in 11.31

Devers joined teammates Lauryn Williams and LaTasha Colander in the semis. Williams won her second-round heat in 11.03 seconds, the second-fastest time overall. Colander was third in her heat.

Lauryn Williams, the 20-year-old NCAA champion from Miami, was fastest in her heat in 11.16 seconds. U.S. champion LaTasha Colander slowed at the end but still won her heat in 11.31. And Devers, who won this event at the 1992 and 1996 games, advanced by placing third in her heat in 11.29.

“I feel good. I was just nervous. I shouldn’t have watched the race right before mine,” Williams said. “Those were fast times. Oh, my goodness! It’s very fast and they’re only running the first rounds.”

Gold-medal favorite Christine Arron of France eased to second place in her heat in 11.14, while Bulgaria’s Ivet Lalova — fastest in the world this year at 10.77 — won her heat in 11.16. The best time of the first round was 10.94 by Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus.

In the 400, three American men — Jeremy Wariner, Derrick Brew and Otis Harris — advanced easily to the semifinals. Wariner, the U.S. champion, jogged the last few meters while winning his heat in 45.56.

U.S. Olympic trials triple jump champion Melvin Lister failed to make the finals in the event. Lister, who had the world-leading mark of 58 feet, 4 inches (7.78 meters) entering the competition, was 18th in the preliminary round at 54-7¼ (16.64). The top 12 advance.

U.S. men’s coach George Williams has said that Lister was hit hard by the news that his training partner, Robert Howard, had died in a murder-suicide. Police said Howard killed his wife then jumped to his death from a medical school dormitory in Little Rock, Ark., last Saturday.

Six in a row? A look at U.S. women gold-medal winners in the 100-meter dash Year Sprinter 1928 Elizabeth Robinson 1936 Helen Stephens 1960 Wilma Rudolph 1964 Wyomia Tyus 1968 Wyomia Tyus 1984 Evelyn Ashford 1988 F. Griffith Joyner 1992 Gail Devers 1996 Gail Devers 2000 Marion Jones

Lister’s U.S. teammates, Kenta Bell and Walter Davis, made it to Sunday night’s finals. They finished 10th and 11th, respectively.

Women from war-torn Aghanistan and Iraq competed in the 100. Robina Muqimyar of Afghanistan, dressed in long running pants but wearing no head scarf, was seventh in her heat at 14.14 seconds, beating Fartun Omar Abukar of Somalia. Alaa Jassim of Iraq was last in her heat at 12.70 seconds.

Omid Marban, a 20-year-old man who apears on a television show in Kabul called “Good Morning Afghanistan,” said Muqimyar’s performance would not be a popular one in that country.

“The majority of people in Afghanistan do not like Afghan women to run outside with some 20,000 people watching her,” he said. “But she was wearing long trousers. That means she did respect her people, even though she did not have a scarf. For me, that’s OK, but there are some people who do not like her.”

Also advancing to the second round were Veronica Campbell and Aleen Bailey of Jamaica, Ukraine’s Zhanna Block and 44-year-old Merlene Ottey, who is running in her seventh Olympics. The Jamaican native, now running for Slovenia, has eight Olympic medals.

Missing were defending champion Marion Jones, world champion Torri Edwards, Kelli White and Chryste Gaines. Edwards and White are serving drug suspensions. Jones and Gaines did not qualify. Jones is under investigation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and Gaines has been charged by USADA with steroid use. Both claim they never used performance-enhancing substances.

After the morning’s two events in the heptathlon, reigning world champion Carolina Kluft of Sweden led with 2,212 points. Karin Ruckstuhl of the Netherlands and Kelly Sotherton of Britain were tied for second at 2,100.

Competition began under a blazing sun Friday morning with the men’s 20-kilometer walk.

Ivano Brugnetti of Italy won in a personal-best 1 hour, 19 minutes, 39

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seconds, finishing five seconds ahead of Francisco Fernandez of Spain. Nathan Deakes of Australia took the bronze. Favorite Jefferson Perez of Ecuador — the event’s world record holder, 2003 world champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist — was fourth.

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